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“Mmmhmm?” She opened her eyes to look up into those stunningly gorgeous blue ones. Which weren’t in the least bit wintry.
“I know it might be kind of soon for this...” He cleared his throat, his voice kind of rough. Something welled inside of her stomach, something hopeful, something yearning. “But I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“Oh.” She took a moment, just to torment him, and then smiled. “Good.” She closed her eyes.
Rick growled, and Maria shrieked as he rolled her toward him, pulling her on top of him so he could have unfettered access to her ass—which he spanked hard and fast. Fast enough she didn’t even have time to get her hands back there to protect her tender glutes. Her cheeks burned with the aftereffects of his hard slaps, tingling delightfully.
Giggling, she pushed herself up off of him slightly so that she could look down at him. “I think I’m falling in love with you too.”
“Tease.”
“Always.”
Cupping his hand around the back of her head, he pulled her down for a kiss. Maria sank into it, letting him take her. She might tease, but so did he, and that’s how they liked it.
Epilogue
“I did it. I gave up,” Angel announced as she walked into Olivia’s apartment, a wine bottle in one hand and two bags of chips in the other.
Maria and Hilary looked up with interest as Jessica poked her head out of the kitchen. It was Maria’s first sleepover with the Stronghold girls. They’d decided to have a girls’ night in at Olivia’s. A planned one where all of them could sleep over. Hilary had confided to Maria that Girls’ Night Out was all too often invaded by the men as soon as they figured out where the night out was being held. Well, not quite invaded—watched over would be more correct.
So if they wanted real privacy, they had to stay in and Olivia’s was the safest. None of the guys were going to try and storm her castle.
“Did what? Gave up what?” Olivia asked, looking amused as Angel pranced past her.
“Gave up the fight with Adam. I’m moving in with him.”
“Finally,” Jessica called from the kitchen, laughing as she went back to whatever she was doing.
Grinning, Angel swept in and sat down on the couch next to Maria. Her purple pajama pants matched the purple tank top she was wearing, and the purple polish she had on her nails and toes. The coordination made Maria feel like she should have tried harder. She was wearing her Sugar Baby pajama pants with one of Rick’s shirts that she’d stolen. At least no one else was quite as coordinated, although Hilary was, as usual, wearing shades of pink.
“So what made you finally give?” Hilary asked, looking curious. She was fiddling with the ring on her finger, something Maria had noticed the pretty blonde doing on a regular basis ever since she’d gotten it. Like she was afraid it would disappear if she didn’t touch it often enough. Pretty cute, really.
“No one thing... I mean, it just makes sense to since I’m there all the time anyway and he’s made the space for me. Plus, Adam’s been pretty patient, even if he’s been growly about the whole thing. And it just feels like it’s time.” Angel shrugged, but she had a huge smile on her lips and her eyes were sparkling with happiness. “Adam’s thrilled.”
“So when are you making the big move?”
“After the Labor Day party,” Angel said firmly, which gave the impression Adam had probably wanted her moved in before. “I am not dealing with having a party while we’re still dealing with organizing and unpacking post-move.”
“Seems reasonable,” Maria said.
“One would think.” Angel’s voice was very dry, making Olivia laugh as she came over to join them. Obviously Adam must not think so. Jessica came in from the kitchen, carrying the tray of dips and hummus she’d been putting together.
Looking around at the group of women, Maria couldn’t believe how much her life had changed since meeting Rick. She’d not only gone from wanting just a casual fling to falling in love, she now had something else she’d always wanted; a group of women outside of her sisters to be real friends with. They were like a second group of sisters, almost, except it was okay to talk about sex. There was a closeness between all of them that she’d never had with other women aside from her sisters, and they’d definitely welcomed her in with open arms and made her one of their own.
The door slammed open, making all of them jump and crane their heads around to see what was going on. Lexie stormed in the door, looking absolutely furious. She stopped in place, just standing there glaring at the wall, as the door slammed shut behind her.
“Lex?” Hilary asked tentatively. “Um... everything okay?”
For a long moment, Lexie tipped her head back and stared up at the ceiling, her fists clenching and unclenching by her sides. Then she took a deep breath and swung around to look at them.
It wasn’t just anger in her face, Maria realized, there was also hurt and a sense of hopelessness. The latter was something she’d never seen in Lexie’s expression.
“No. No, everything is not okay.”
The support system sprang into action. It took them less than five minutes to get Lexie situated in the center of the couch, Angel and Olivia on either side of her, Maria, Jessica, and Hilary seated on the chairs across from her, with a drink in her hand. The anger seemed to have leeched from her while they were taking care of her, leaving her looking very lost and very young. It made Maria’s heart ache to see the usually bouncy, confident Lexie looking like that.
“What happened, honey?” Olivia asked, brushing Lexie’s hair back from her face.
